Clashes have continued on the outskirts of Tripoli for a third consecutive day as Muammar Gaddafi's loyalists try to retain the capital in the face of a rampant anti-government revolution.

Demonstrators at a large opposition rally in Libya's second city, Benghazi, received phone calls from frantic relatives in Tripoli who relayed details of ongoing battles nearing the centre of the city.

There are unconfirmed reports of a major airbase in Tripoli falling into opposition hands. If true it would be a serious blow to the Libyan ruler's attempts to cling to power in the capital. In much of the rest of the country the battle already appears lost.

Opposition activists have been striving to get their hands on military bases and ammunition, seeking to further weaken the regime of the veteran dictator who has already been ousted from eastern Libya and much of the centre of the country.

Benghazi's main military base was sacked on Sunday and Libya's second city fell later that day. Ever since, Benghazi has been a hub of anti-government dissent.

Most towns and villages along the 620-mile (1,000km) route between the two cities appear to have turned against the dictator. Demonstrators in Benghazi, where it all started on 17 February, have been celebrating at a large rally after Friday prayers outside the looted court house and police headquarters.

"Gaddafi go to Israel," they chanted. "Libya is free, Gaddafi must leave."

Benghazi has remained calm since Sunday, with most residents insisting that the last of the dictator's old guard have fled. "They can never return," said Khadija Begaigy, who lives in the city. "It is finished for them, and now onwards to Tripoli."

So far almost all of the armoury seized from Benghazi's looted military bases remains inside the forecourt of a ransacked secret police headquarters near the port.

There have been calls for those weapons to be used against loyalist forces still defending the capital. However the small number of weapons that have been handed out are being used to help with neighbourhood defences.

Gaddafi is expected to fly in reporters from the UK on a Libyan government jet, intending to show that all is well in the capital. But Libyans continue to paint an entirely different picture. "The battles here have been worse this week than last," one man in Tripoli told his mother, who was protesting in Benghazi. "Something is clearly happening here."